notaflower reblogged
There’s a short pause while Brock McGillis tries to find the right word.
“Unbelievable,” he finally said.
That’s the word the former Ontario Hockey League goaltender uses to describe the outpouring of support he’s received since publicly coming out as gay in a Yahoo Canada Sports article published last Thursday.
Since the first-person piece detailing his struggle with homophobia in the hockey world was published, he’s been inundated by messages from people via text and social media. He said he had been prepared for negative or no reaction – save for friends and family – so when the messages started pouring in, he was shocked.
“I didn’t expect this,” McGillis said from his hometown of Sudbury, Ont. “This was on a whole different level. On Thursday the amount of messages I received – text messages, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – I would say was almost in the 10,000 range.”
People he hasn’t heard from in years – including old teachers, friends, and former teammates – have reached out show their support.
“I had former teammates apologize and say, ‘I’m sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable.’ Or if they ever used language that offended or hurt me,” said McGillis. “I’ve had people who coach minor hockey say this is going to influence how they talk and the kind of language they allow their players to use.”
McGillis said he’s already met with Hockey Canada about the possibility of working with them to try and make hockey more inclusive at all levels of the sport. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has also reached out to see if he might be able to talk to their teams about changing a hockey culture that is often rife with toxic masculinity.
